Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has reassured South Africans that the current load shedding is a temporary issue, and that the country will be out of the “difficult position” by the end of this week.
The minister said that “we continue to be on the right path in relation to out quest to ensure that we are able to eliminate load shedding”.
“The end of load shedding is within touching distance,” he said, adding that a number of units are due to come back online including Medupe at the end of March, with Kusile Unit number 6 set to be synchronised in March.
The announcement follows Eskom’s declaration of Stage 6 load shedding early on Sunday morning (23 February), following nearly 20 days without interruptions. Eskom indicated that it would consider lowering stage 6 on Monday.
The power utility explained that Stage 6 load shedding was needed to replenish emergency reserves and prepare for the week ahead.
Ramokgopa addressed the media shortly after Eskom’s announcement, attributing the load shedding to multiple power-generating units tripping, which led to a drop in generation capacity. He explained that on Saturday, Eskom lost 3,000 megawatts, which initiated a series of events, escalating load shedding from Stage 3 to Stage 6.
Five units were lost at Majuba Power Station on Saturday, while a unit at Medupi also tripped. Four units at Camden Power Station went offline on Sunday morning. More than 7,000MW of capacity was offline due to scheduled maintenance.
“We were at Stage 3 when we went to bed, but after the incident at Camden at 1:30 AM, we had to increase it to Stage 6,” Ramokgopa said.
While he acknowledging the disruptions, the minister stressed that there was no evidence of sabotage. “There is no sabotage based on what we see. We can explain the cause, and we are addressing it,” he said.
Ramokgopa remains confident that the country will emerge from this situation by the end of the week, though he noted that setbacks may occur. Despite the challenges, the minister is hopeful that the situation will improve in the coming days, ensuring a more stable electricity supply for South Africa.
Developing…Eskom on Monday downgraded its load shedding from stage six to four.
This follows the successful recovery of all five units at Majuba, two units at Camden, and one unit at Medupi since Saturday, totalling eight out of 10 generation units that had tripped this weekend.
“The return of these units comes after identifying the root causes of multiple unit trips, which were unconnected and purely technical in nature,” it said. “Additionally, emergency-reserves replenishment is progressing well.”
Planned maintenance stands at 7 706MW.
